PaperBLAST – Find papers about a protein or its homologs

 

PaperBLAST

PaperBLAST Hits for Pf1N1B4_4068 (85 a.a., MKSLTVGARA...)

Other sequence analysis tools:

Find functional residues: SitesBLAST

Search for conserved domains

Find the best match in UniProt

Compare to protein structures

Predict transmenbrane helices: Phobius

Predict protein localization: PSORTb

Find homologs in fast.genomics

Fitness BLAST: loading...

Found 56 similar proteins in the literature:

PA2608 hypothetical protein from Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1
60% identity, 75% coverage

AL038_07465, BLE401_16850 TusE/DsrC/DsvC family sulfur relay protein from Beggiatoa leptomitoformis
41% identity, 74% coverage

CBG46_00190 TusE/DsrC/DsvC family sulfur relay protein from Actinobacillus succinogenes
44% identity, 73% coverage

MHY1_00084 TusE/DsrC/DsvC family sulfur relay protein from Methylovirgula sp. HY1
38% identity, 73% coverage

FOKN1_1950 TusE/DsrC/DsvC family sulfur relay protein from Thiohalobacter thiocyanaticus
37% identity, 74% coverage

LT988_06640 TusE/DsrC/DsvC family sulfur relay protein from Thiocapsa bogorovii
38% identity, 72% coverage

HD1815 putative sulfite reductase from Haemophilus ducreyi 35000HP
41% identity, 75% coverage

MOY_00165 TusE/DsrC/DsvC family sulfur relay protein from Halomonas sp. GFAJ-1
42% identity, 66% coverage

tusE / P0AB18 sulfur transfer protein TusE from Escherichia coli (strain K12) (see 2 papers)
TUSE_ECOLI / P0AB18 Sulfurtransferase TusE; tRNA 2-thiouridine synthesizing protein E; EC 2.8.1.- from Escherichia coli (strain K12) (see paper)
b0969 putative sulfite reductase (EC 1.8.-.-) from Escherichia coli str. K-12 substr. MG1655
S1037 sulfurtransferase TusE from Shigella flexneri 2a str. 2457T
EDL933_1237 sulfurtransferase TusE from Escherichia coli O157:H7 str. EDL933
44% identity, 73% coverage

dsrC / O87899 DsrC monomer from Allochromatium vinosum (see 3 papers)
Alvin_1256 DsrC from Allochromatium vinosum DSM 180
D3RSN6 Sulfurtransferase from Allochromatium vinosum (strain ATCC 17899 / DSM 180 / NBRC 103801 / NCIMB 10441 / D)
36% identity, 72% coverage

P45184 Sulfurtransferase TusE homolog from Haemophilus influenzae (strain ATCC 51907 / DSM 11121 / KW20 / Rd)
40% identity, 73% coverage

THER_0471 TusE/DsrC/DsvC family sulfur relay protein from Thermodesulfovibrio sp. N1
33% identity, 74% coverage

HAL1_10182 TusE/DsrC/DsvC family sulfur relay protein from Halomonas sp. HAL1
43% identity, 59% coverage

PMI0794 sulfite reductase from Proteus mirabilis HI4320
39% identity, 73% coverage

YE1597 putative sulfite reductase subunit protein from Yersinia enterocolitica subsp. enterocolitica 8081
42% identity, 70% coverage

LT988_16425 TusE/DsrC/DsvC family sulfur relay protein from Thiocapsa bogorovii
46% identity, 33% coverage

SVA_1949 TusE/DsrC/DsvC family sulfur relay protein from Sulfurifustis variabilis
39% identity, 67% coverage

O28055 dissimilatory sulfite reductase (EC 1.8.99.5) from Archaeoglobus fulgidus (see paper)
AF_2228, WP_010879717 TusE/DsrC/DsvC family sulfur relay protein from Archaeoglobus fulgidus DSM 4304
AF2228 sulfite reductase, desulfoviridin-type subunit gamma (dsvC) from Archaeoglobus fulgidus DSM 4304
36% identity, 68% coverage

VP1626 sulfite reductase, gamma subunit-related protein from Vibrio parahaemolyticus RIMD 2210633
35% identity, 73% coverage

Desca_2677 TusE/DsrC/DsvC family sulfur relay protein from Desulfotomaculum nigrificans CO-1-SRB
36% identity, 72% coverage

DESAMIL20_1431 TusE/DsrC/DsvC family sulfur relay protein from Desulfurella amilsii
34% identity, 65% coverage

WP_202320007 TusE/DsrC/DsvC family sulfur relay protein from Archaeoglobus neptunius
36% identity, 68% coverage

SVA_1205 TusE/DsrC/DsvC family sulfur relay protein from Sulfurifustis variabilis
31% identity, 71% coverage

LT988_16185 TusE/DsrC/DsvC family sulfur relay protein from Thiocapsa bogorovii
31% identity, 69% coverage

MHY1_00075 TusE/DsrC/DsvC family sulfur relay protein from Methylovirgula sp. HY1
38% identity, 68% coverage

LT988_06690 TusE/DsrC/DsvC family sulfur relay protein from Thiocapsa bogorovii
37% identity, 67% coverage

dsvC / P45573 DsvC monomer (D. vulgaris) from Desulfovibrio vulgaris (strain ATCC 29579 / DSM 644 / NCIMB 8303 / VKM B-1760 / Hildenborough) (see 3 papers)
DSVC_NITV2 / P45573 Sulfite reductase, dissimilatory-type subunit gamma; Desulfoviridin subunit gamma; Hydrogensulfite reductase subunit gamma; EC 1.8.1.22 from Nitratidesulfovibrio vulgaris (strain ATCC 29579 / DSM 644 / CCUG 34227 / NCIMB 8303 / VKM B-1760 / Hildenborough) (Desulfovibrio vulgaris) (see 2 papers)
DVU2776, ORF03581 dissimilatory sulfite reductase, gamma subunit from Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough
34% identity, 72% coverage

SCL_1279 TusE/DsrC/DsvC family sulfur relay protein from Sulfuricaulis limicola
36% identity, 67% coverage

DMR_15890 sulfite reductase gamma subunit from Desulfovibrio magneticus RS-1
35% identity, 71% coverage

SVA_1793 TusE/DsrC/DsvC family sulfur relay protein from Sulfurifustis variabilis
34% identity, 62% coverage

Dred_3197 DsrC family protein from Desulfotomaculum reducens MI-1
32% identity, 72% coverage

MHY1_00097 TusE/DsrC/DsvC family sulfur relay protein from Methylovirgula sp. HY1
36% identity, 58% coverage

Dpo_5c02880 TusE/DsrC/DsvC family sulfur relay protein from Desulfotignum phosphitoxidans DSM 13687
31% identity, 72% coverage

Alvin_0028 sulfur relay protein, TusE/DsrC/DsvC family from Allochromatium vinosum DSM 180
33% identity, 33% coverage

Sfum_4045 DsrC family protein from Syntrophobacter fumaroxidans MPOB
29% identity, 72% coverage

FTN_0548 hypothetical protein from Francisella tularensis subsp. novicida U112
41% identity, 62% coverage

SCL_2646 TusE/DsrC/DsvC family sulfur relay protein from Sulfuricaulis limicola
33% identity, 62% coverage

KKC1_RS04165 TusE/DsrC/DsvC family sulfur relay protein from Calderihabitans maritimus
33% identity, 66% coverage

2xsjC / C7LV29 Structure of desulforubidin from desulfomicrobium norvegicum (see paper)
36% identity, 66% coverage

Alvin_1508 sulfur relay protein, TusE/DsrC/DsvC family from Allochromatium vinosum DSM 180
36% identity, 61% coverage

Dde_0762 sulfite reductase, dissimilatory-type gamma subunit from Desulfovibrio desulfuricans G20
30% identity, 72% coverage

FOKN1_1941 TusE/DsrC/DsvC family sulfur relay protein from Thiohalobacter thiocyanaticus
31% identity, 68% coverage

LGS26_05895 TusE/DsrC/DsvC family sulfur relay protein from Dissulfurimicrobium hydrothermale
31% identity, 72% coverage

SCL_0785 TusE/DsrC/DsvC family sulfur relay protein from Sulfuricaulis limicola
46% identity, 43% coverage

LT988_03825 TusE/DsrC/DsvC family sulfur relay protein from Thiocapsa bogorovii
32% identity, 71% coverage

V8V93_13245 TusE/DsrC/DsvC family sulfur relay protein from Pseudodesulfovibrio methanolicus
31% identity, 66% coverage

SVA_0917 TusE/DsrC/DsvC family sulfur relay protein from Sulfurifustis variabilis
32% identity, 60% coverage

Dpo_2c03440 TusE/DsrC/DsvC family sulfur relay protein from Desulfotignum phosphitoxidans DSM 13687
33% identity, 54% coverage

SVA_2832 TusE/DsrC/DsvC family sulfur relay protein from Sulfurifustis variabilis
33% identity, 62% coverage

SVA_0284 TusE/DsrC/DsvC family sulfur relay protein from Sulfurifustis variabilis
35% identity, 58% coverage

LT988_03875 TusE/DsrC/DsvC family sulfur relay protein from Thiocapsa bogorovii
31% identity, 59% coverage

SVA_0358 TusE/DsrC/DsvC family sulfur relay protein from Sulfurifustis variabilis
38% identity, 55% coverage

3or2C / E2QR99 Crystal structure of dissimilatory sulfite reductase ii (dsrii)
34% identity, 66% coverage

SCL_0524 TusE/DsrC/DsvC family sulfur relay protein from Sulfuricaulis limicola
33% identity, 62% coverage

SCL_0275 TusE/DsrC/DsvC family sulfur relay protein from Sulfuricaulis limicola
34% identity, 55% coverage

Alvin_0345 sulfur relay protein, TusE/DsrC/DsvC family from Allochromatium vinosum DSM 180
30% identity, 71% coverage

New Search

For advice on how to use these tools together, see Interactive tools for functional annotation of bacterial genomes.

Statistics

The PaperBLAST database links 793,807 different protein sequences to 1,259,118 scientific articles. Searches against EuropePMC were last performed on March 13 2025.

How It Works

PaperBLAST builds a database of protein sequences that are linked to scientific articles. These links come from automated text searches against the articles in EuropePMC and from manually-curated information from GeneRIF, UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot, BRENDA, CAZy (as made available by dbCAN), BioLiP, CharProtDB, MetaCyc, EcoCyc, TCDB, REBASE, the Fitness Browser, and a subset of the European Nucleotide Archive with the /experiment tag. Given this database and a protein sequence query, PaperBLAST uses protein-protein BLAST to find similar sequences with E < 0.001.

To build the database, we query EuropePMC with locus tags, with RefSeq protein identifiers, and with UniProt accessions. We obtain the locus tags from RefSeq or from MicrobesOnline. We use queries of the form "locus_tag AND genus_name" to try to ensure that the paper is actually discussing that gene. Because EuropePMC indexes most recent biomedical papers, even if they are not open access, some of the links may be to papers that you cannot read or that our computers cannot read. We query each of these identifiers that appears in the open access part of EuropePMC, as well as every locus tag that appears in the 500 most-referenced genomes, so that a gene may appear in the PaperBLAST results even though none of the papers that mention it are open access. We also incorporate text-mined links from EuropePMC that link open access articles to UniProt or RefSeq identifiers. (This yields some additional links because EuropePMC uses different heuristics for their text mining than we do.)

For every article that mentions a locus tag, a RefSeq protein identifier, or a UniProt accession, we try to select one or two snippets of text that refer to the protein. If we cannot get access to the full text, we try to select a snippet from the abstract, but unfortunately, unique identifiers such as locus tags are rarely provided in abstracts.

PaperBLAST also incorporates manually-curated protein functions:

Except for GeneRIF and ENA, the curated entries include a short curated description of the protein's function. For entries from BioLiP, the protein's function may not be known beyond binding to the ligand. Many of these entries also link to articles in PubMed.

For more information see the PaperBLAST paper (mSystems 2017) or the code. You can download PaperBLAST's database here.

Changes to PaperBLAST since the paper was written:

Many of these changes are described in Interactive tools for functional annotation of bacterial genomes.

Secrets

PaperBLAST cannot provide snippets for many of the papers that are published in non-open-access journals. This limitation applies even if the paper is marked as "free" on the publisher's web site and is available in PubmedCentral or EuropePMC. If a journal that you publish in is marked as "secret," please consider publishing elsewhere.

Omissions from the PaperBLAST Database

Many important articles are missing from PaperBLAST, either because the article's full text is not in EuropePMC (as for many older articles), or because the paper does not mention a protein identifier such as a locus tag, or because of PaperBLAST's heuristics. If you notice an article that characterizes a protein's function but is missing from PaperBLAST, please notify the curators at UniProt or add an entry to GeneRIF. Entries in either of these databases will eventually be incorporated into PaperBLAST. Note that to add an entry to UniProt, you will need to find the UniProt identifier for the protein. If the protein is not already in UniProt, you can ask them to create an entry. To add an entry to GeneRIF, you will need an NCBI Gene identifier, but unfortunately many prokaryotic proteins in RefSeq do not have corresponding Gene identifers.

References

PaperBLAST: Text-mining papers for information about homologs.
M. N. Price and A. P. Arkin (2017). mSystems, 10.1128/mSystems.00039-17.

Europe PMC in 2017.
M. Levchenko et al (2017). Nucleic Acids Research, 10.1093/nar/gkx1005.

Gene indexing: characterization and analysis of NLM's GeneRIFs.
J. A. Mitchell et al (2003). AMIA Annu Symp Proc 2003:460-464.

UniProt: the universal protein knowledgebase.
The UniProt Consortium (2016). Nucleic Acids Research, 10.1093/nar/gkw1099.

BRENDA in 2017: new perspectives and new tools in BRENDA.
S. Placzek et al (2017). Nucleic Acids Research, 10.1093/nar/gkw952.

The EcoCyc database: reflecting new knowledge about Escherichia coli K-12.
I. M. Keeseler et al (2016). Nucleic Acids Research, 10.1093/nar/gkw1003.

The MetaCyc database of metabolic pathways and enzymes.
R. Caspi et al (2018). Nucleic Acids Research, 10.1093/nar/gkx935.

CharProtDB: a database of experimentally characterized protein annotations.
R. Madupu et al (2012). Nucleic Acids Research, 10.1093/nar/gkr1133.

The carbohydrate-active enzymes database (CAZy) in 2013.
V. Lombard et al (2014). Nucleic Acids Research, 10.1093/nar/gkt1178.

The Transporter Classification Database (TCDB): recent advances
M. H. Saier, Jr. et al (2016). Nucleic Acids Research, 10.1093/nar/gkv1103.

REBASE - a database for DNA restriction and modification: enzymes, genes and genomes.
R. J. Roberts et al (2015). Nucleic Acids Research, 10.1093/nar/gku1046.

Deep annotation of protein function across diverse bacteria from mutant phenotypes.
M. N. Price et al (2016). bioRxiv, 10.1101/072470.

by Morgan Price, Arkin group
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory